Project Share: A Junk Journal Spread Using Happy Mail

The finished journal page

A while back I participated in an Ephemera Swap in one of the Facebook groups I follow. The above spread was completed in my current Cafe Journal. It's a travelers notebook style journal, 4 1/2" x 8 1/2".

This  is a backward look at how this all went down.

The finished tag made from a packaging card

My partner had sent some black chalkboard tags in packaging as well as some printy collage paper and several die cuts to play with.

For budgetary and storage reasons more than anything, I don't buy ephemera, so it's nice getting bits and pieces in swaps.

The back of the card for journaling

I drew some lines on craft paper using an Inktense pencil and smudged it out with a water brush.

setting up for the cafe crafting session

Opening up the happy mail the previous evening
I love the bottle caps

Thanks  for stopping by!

Project Share: Happy Mail Junk Journal

I recently picked up this junk journal I had made several months ago upon receiving a Flow-ish journal swap in the Facebook group Trashy and Flowish Junk Journals. It was my second swap with the lovely Nikki P. 

A Flow-ish Junk Journal is an assembly of unbound junk journal fodder one can deconstruct so as to use bits and  pieces in your own creations be it an art journal, junk journal, collage or other mixed media art. In the group we're basically sharing our stash.

Nikki had sent her load of paper inspiration in a sturdy cardboard cover that she had collaged with a few images. I kept going with it and tore up a bunch of papers shed sent along and added more to the cover, slapped on some more paint and decoupaged a decorative napkin over the whole thing and added all of the collaging to the inside cover.

I assembled 2 signatures and sewed them into the cover with dental floss. She had included a cute cardboard pocket that I glued to the back cover in a way that made it flip as if another book page.

She had sent a vintage card with large black sewing snaps that I used to attach some pockets to the inside covers of each of the two signatures which hold bits of ephemera.

A painty background with a cluster of ephemera and a painty junk mail envelope with a collage tag inside.

This was a painty/stenciled background page I made in the book a bit later.

Coffee and creativity happening at the cafe this morning.


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Project Share: Dressing Up My Naked Journal

This is the Naked Journal I received in the swap I mentioned in my last post. This cover is made from a cracker box I think. My swap partner, Carol, had the cardboard interior of the box as the cover and then she'd covered the inside cover with painted labels and pockets.

I decorated the cover with a napkin and used some of my handmade paper beads on the binding string tails. I love this journal and I'm having a lot of fun with it.

I went through and did some collaging, stamping and stenciling to give it my mark

The journaling card was from Carol but I wrote the quote from something The Diva said on one of her Zentangle videos awhile back.

I collaged shreds of colored art tissue that had given up its color.

I made a pocket out of a piece of my Zentangle inspired art

Collaging, stamping (my hand carved stamp based on a design I saw on Kim Dellow's YT channel) and stenciling